Health Care

According to the film Escape Fire, the U.S. healthcare system suffers from multiple aliments. As I watched the film I learned a lot of topics the film covered were previous things we have reviewed or talked about in class. The film talked about how America almost spends 2.7 trillion dollars a year on healthcare, almost twice as much as any other country. Many of the American healthcare field organizations and hospitals are paid base on keeping them full and paying doctors by the patient so they try and see a lot of patients.

From this film, the key points that were mentioned about how socioeconomic backgrounds and race impact one’s health is something that is not as emphasized as it should be in the public eye. Especially how health and wealth are intertwined with each other is particularly frustrating since health should be a human right and people should receive the health they need regardless of their economic

The U.S. health care system is way more complex than what meets the eye. A major difference between the health care system in the U.S. and other nations, is that the U.S. does not have universal health care. Lack of a universal health care opens up the doors for competition amongst insurance, physicians, technology, hospitals and outpatient services.

Health care spending in the United States of America as a percentage of the economy has reached astonishing heights, equating to 17.7 percent. This number is shocking when compared to other counties; in Australia health care is 8.9 percent, in United Kingdom 9.4 percent, in Canada 11.2 percent. If the American health care system were to hypothetically become its own economy, it would be the fifth-largest in the world. While these statistics sound troubling, they lead us to look for answers about the problems surrounding our system. The first health insurance company was created in the 1930s to give all American families an equal opportunity for hospital care and eventually led to a nationwide economic and social controversy that erupted in the 1990s and continued to be shaped by the government, insurance companies, doctors, and American citizens. In this paper, I will go in to detail about the various opinions regarding the controversy, the history behind health insurance companies, and the main dilemmas brought out by the health care crisis. Greedy insurance companies combined with high costs of doctor visits and pharmaceutical drugs or the inefficient hospitals all over America can only describe the beginning to this in depth crisis. Recently, the United States health care industry has become know for the outrageous costs of insurance models, developments of various social and health services programs, and the frequent changes in medicinal technology.

Firstly, advances in pharmaceutical is one of the main reasons. Over years, highly development in the pharmaceutical industry have transformed health care into a new form: new management structure and new technology are being used. Many health problems now can be solved by just using prescription drugs. Furthermore, the use of prescription drugs keeps people away from doing surgery and other expenses. However the process of manufacture and development of new drugs require a large amount of money. Drug manufactures spent too much money

“The science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organised effort of society” (Acheson 1988).

The first characteristic of the US health care system is that there is no central governing agency which allows for little integration and coordination. While the government has a great influence on the health care system, the system is mostly controlled through private hands. The system is financed publically and privately creating a variety of payments and delivery unlike centrally controlled healthcare systems in other developed countries. The US system is more complex and less manageable than centrally controlled health care systems, which makes it more expensive. The second characteristic of the US health care system is that it is technology driven and focuses on acute care. With more usage of high technology,

Health care costs have been rising for several years. Expenditures in the United States on health care surpassed $2.3 trillion in 2008, more than three times the

the challenges associated with its health care system. United States is struggling to meet the cost

Another reason for the rising cost of healthcare is the cost of physician care, according to the American Hospital Association “the cost of physician care, both to insurance and patients, has risen 1.3% during the past year.” Because of this increase doctors are put in a corner, they are already locked into an agreement with the insurance companies and do not have much ‘wiggle’ room to negotiate fees and rates. So because of this the patients and consumers are forced to pay a much larger sum. Since there are higher costs and the insurers will not cover them, they are distributes to the customers through higher deductibles, co-insurance, and

As humans, the right to medical care is something that should be seen as a privilege. No one should have to worry about if they are able to receive the healthcare that they require. Everyone has the right to receive the care that they should need. The only way to provide equal care for everyone in America is if healthcare were to be free. Though many countries around the world are able to provide free healthcare, this is something that is unfortunately not possible for all countries. There would be many issues that would arise if free healthcare were provided here in America. Due to the fact that quality care would be difficult to find, taxes would be increased, and much more, health care should not be free.

The paper is broken up in to three sections. In section one, we will discuss the problems with the American Healthcare system and we will try and clear up some of the often misrepresented facts about the healthcare problems and solutions to fix them. In section two, we will present some of the solutions being put forward to fix the healthcare system, including plans by both Presidential Candidates

Everyone has their own views on what they think the United States healthcare system should consist of. Consequently, the healthcare system has been flawed for many years and does not plan to change anytime soon. According to Luft (2006), “rapid and wide-reaching technological innovation, the ready access to care for the insured, and clinical and patient autonomy” (p.1). These are some of the strengths the US healthcare system are proficient in providing. In contrast, the weaknesses of the healthcare system outweigh the system’s strengths. Luft (2006) examined and acknowledged the following:

US health care expenditures have been rising quickly over the past few years; it has risen more than the national financial system. Nonetheless a number of citizens in the US still lack appropriate health care. If the truth be told, health care expenditures are going to continue to increase; in addition numerous individuals will possibly have to make difficult choices pertaining to their health care. Our health system has grave problems that require reform, through reforming, there is optimism that there will be an increase in affordable health care and high-quality of care for America. Medicaid, Medicare and private sector insurances are all going through trials and tribulations because of

It should be the duty of the regulator (IRDA) to ensure that the new entrant in the health insurance sector: